Letters

Letter to the Editor – Comment on Coop

By Roger Jenking

Like many, I admire Co-op shops. Their principles are terrific. All right, there’s sometimes the odd thing missing from their shelves and prices aren’t always the cheapest but the organisation has good presence in Oxford and should be able to take advantage of the trend for small rather than weekly shops.

But other trends are not helping Wood Farm shops. Sales of newspapers, tobacco, confectionary and alcohol are all falling. So it’s a pity that the Wood Farm Co-op is making life even more difficult for small independents by selling booze and papers. Let’s hope it doesn’t start doing chips and haircuts!

On the subject of alcohol, the news that there’s a question mark over the future of the Corner House is bad news. It’s not my local but when I have used it, I’ve found it friendly with good Midlands beer.

The Fairview and the Crown and Thistle are, of course, currently closed. They weren’t doing everything right but the community deserves a choice of pubs, so let’s hope – against provability – that they’ll re-open.

But it’s a disturbing thought that those of us who believed that Wood Farm was too big not to have pubs on or near the estate, that this is not the case in Barton, Rose Hill or Risinghurst.